not quite winchestercon

Hi Everybody! Sorry this is coming so late. I meant to have a Closing Ceremonies yesterday evening, but after going to dinner with some friends, I kinda came home and walked right past the computer and collapsed from exhaustion!

Anyway, the Second Annual Not Quite WinchesterCon has come to an end. I had a ton of fun organizing and running this con for you guys and I hope you all had fun too. I appreciate storydivagirl entrusting me with her brainchild. I hope I didn't embarrass her too badly!! ;p

1) Below the cuts are special awards for the various winners and participants in some of from this weekend's activities, all made by the wonderfully-talented tvm who also designed the comm layout. YAY! Thank you so much!

( Worst First Lines Winner -- eloise_bright! )

( Treasure Hunt Winner and Honorable Mention-- RockPaperSalt and The Underdogs! )

( Supernatural TV Show Prompts Fic Writers-- pheebs1, bitchtude, catling42, and caffienekitty!! )

2) We also have some fun "I Survived Not Winchestercon" icons if you'd like to snag them:

( icons below )

3) Let us know in the comments what worked, what didn't, if you'd want to have one of these again next year, if so when...basically, anything that you think us mods should know about the running of this year's online con.

4) Thanks so much for being fun and respectful of each other. I made some wonderful new friends and I hope you did too!

The Winner of the win_non_con Bullwinchester-Lytton Worst First Lines Competition, according to your votes, is...

eloise_bright


Here was her winning entry:

"Go get me another goddamn drink, boy!” yelled the drunken, stubbly-chinned John Winchester, tossing the now empty Jack Daniel’s Whiskey bottle at the dark blonde head of his older son, Dean, while simultaneously stubbing out his cigarette on the pale flesh of the trembling forearm of Dean’s younger, brunette-haired, doe-eyed brother, Sammy, causing his older brother Dean to whimper in sympathy, because of their special brotherly connection, forged so many years ago in the terrible fire that had robbed them of their beautiful angelic mother, and turned their father from a loving family man into a mean, drunken, sadistic bastard.

Eloise? You'll be receiving a winner's graphic from tvm and 2 months paid LJ time. YAY!


You can read all the entries (if you dare) here (round #1), here (round #2), and here (round #3).

Thanks to all of you who participated for dredging the slimy gutters of your minds to bring us truly wonderful bad!fic! :D

RESULTS POST

First off, I have to say that you guys are ALL insane and crazy and wonderfully-talented. There wasn't anything that we, the judges, didn't love a whole lot. (OMG Your proof that Sam would make a good unicorn and JDM's college experiences and all the rest had us HOWLING!)

I had help in the judging from a select panel of whoever was standing around dangerous, smart, and expertly-trained fangirls who took time out from their WinCon activities in LA to spend THREE HOURS (no lie) on the speaker phone with me giggling over these entries!! So my everlasting thanks to gekizetsu, gray_light, scarlett_o, eponin10, missyjack, winterlive, and ryuutchi. Awesome is indeed what you are made of.

All items were scored on a 1-10 scale and the scores were determined by unanimous consensus by the Judging Panel. To avoid partiality, judges were not told the names of the individual members of the teams until after judging was complete.

Anyway, for those of you who want to want to see the ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE talent of the Treasure Hunt Teams, you must check out:

Team 1: Team Awesome
Team 2: RockPaperSalt
Team 3: Oh! Team 3 (OT3)
Team 4: These Kids Are Alright
Team 5: The Underdogs

GO GIVE THEM ALL MASSIVE, ECSTATIC FEEDBACK ON THEIR WORK!!

***

So the Results!

First place… RockPaperSalt = 185
Second place and Honorable Mention (for having two fewer players than every other team)…The Underdogs = 178


If anyone from the teams wants a complete breakdown of the results, I am happy to provide. But seriously, you guys all rock and you made this day of judging SO FREAKING FUN! I hope you all had fun putting it together! Supernatural fandom is filled with creative GENIUS!

RockPaperSalt and The Underdogs- tvm is working on a winners graphic for you guys!

Congrats to EVERYONE who played. I love you all (and possibly at times today wanted to have your babies).

VIEWING PARTY # 4
Featuring - Devil's Trap
Show Starts at 4pm (EST)


Welcome to the Viewing Party for "Devil's Trap." Man, I haven't rewatched this for A LONG TIME and I'm hoping I can get come watch with you guys, because I need me a little demon!John fix. Yes, indeed. Plus we get the Meg exorcism, the firefighter stripshow, and Impala Smash!

Don't worry if you're running a few minutes ahead or behind it's all good, the wonders of the internet is that we can all still enjoy it.

So "Devil's Trap"...let's get it ON...


What's your favorite part?
Favorite lines?
Is there a particular scene that you watch over and over?
A missing scene you like to speculate about?
Something you wish they'd done differently?

Feel free to answer these questions and/or ask your own.

Here are the winners from the three rounds of the WORST FIRST LINES competition. Now. YOU MUST CHOOSE.

Pick one, and only one, worst first line. They are truly horrific. Feel free to use the brain bleach provided in the hall outside.


( PICK ONE )

VIEWING PARTY # 3
Featuring - Nightshifter
Show Starts at 1pm (EST)

Oh, Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law...

Welcome to the Viewing Party for "Nightshifter" definitely one of my personal favorites. RON! The Mandroid! Dean kicking ass! Sam kicking ass! HENDRICKSON! The best use of music in a series, EVER! (Okay maybe I'm letting my enthusiasm run away with me, but...)

Don't worry if you're running a few minutes ahead or behind it's all good, the wonders of the internet is that we can all still enjoy it.

So "Nightshifter"...let's get it ON...


What's your favorite part?
Favorite lines?
Is there a particular scene that you watch over and over?
A missing scene you like to speculate about?
Something you wish they'd done differently?

Feel free to answer these questions and/or ask your own.

Here's our final poll of the preliminary rounds. Voting here for THE WORST (and voting in the other two rounds as well), will stay open for two hours until 1pm (EST).

Then we will have the final three head to head!!

Go! ( Read em and WEEP! )

Good mornin', Ladies and Gents and Dean Winchester!

So here we are at the last day of the con, and we've got lots of fun activities for you to participate in today.

1) The final round of the Worst First Lines Competition is open until 11am (EST). So you still have a little bit of time to go add the most miserable, horrible, cringe-inducing first lines you can think of in the comments. Voting for Round #3 will take place until 1pm (EST) (actually, you can continue to vote in all three preliminary rounds until then).

The final Worst First Lines Cage Match!! among the top vote-getter from each round will be open for voting all afternoon, with the winner determined at 4pm (EST).

2) Story submissions for the Supernatural TV Show Challenge are due at 4pm (EST) as well. Remember, there's no minimum word count requirements, so if you want to bang out a drabble or ficlet on a lazy Sunday (morning, afternoon, evening... depending where you are), GO FOR IT!

3) All of our teams from the Treasure Hunt are in, and their submissions are BOOTYLICIOUS! Keep an eye out later today for links to their cracked-out creations and an announcement of the winners.

4) Don't forget. There will also be Viewing Parties at 1pm (EST)-- "Nightshifter"-- and 4pm (EST)-- Devil's Trap. So look for the chat posts to go up right before the viewing start!

5) Also all the rooms are still open, so feel free to go start up some conversation!

Ahoy, Hunters! It's 9:15 (EST) which means you have just about an hour to get your submissions in! (I'm allowing a 15 minute grace period, because that's what Bobby would do. John would time you to the second and dock you points for lateness. *g*)

When you're ready, comment here with a link to your submission post. For those of you who created closed communities, please extend TWO invites for your friendly judges: ONE for me (deirdre_c) and ONE for a bunch of hungover weirdoes Celebrity Judges' Panel from WinCon in L.A., led by the lovely gekizetsu.

After the judging this afternoon, I'll post the results and links to your submissions. At that point, please unlock them so that the rest of the con can be amazed by your FREAKISH BRILLIANCE! \o/

The Bullwinchester-Lytton Worst First Lines Competition continues!!

FIRST, below find a poll where you can judge among the submissions from ROUND #2! (You people are sick. SICK, I TELL YOU!)


SECOND, you should comment here with the last, and most disgusting, of your WORST FIRST LINES of Supernatural fic. This last round will last until 10am (EST) tomorrow morning, when we'll have the voting.

Remember, we'll have a face off among the winners of all three rounds on Sunday afternoon and the author of the one sentence deemed THE WORST by the peanut gallery wins 2 months paid LJ time.


Vote for The Worst (redux):

NOTE #1: I'm giving you ticky boxes, because how can you choose between dumb and dumber? Pick as many as you like.

NOTE #2: Some entries are too long for dumb ole Create-a-Poll. So they get split into two. You only vote for each one once, though, obviously.


( Vote for the Worst, Round #2 )

ETA: SUBMISSIONS FOR THE CONTEST ARE NOW CLOSED! Go vote for the worst!!

VIEWING PARTY # 2
Featuring - The Kids Are Alright
Show Starts at Midnight (EST)


Our second episode on the viewing schedule is "The Kids Are Alright," the episode that brought us mucho Dean shmoop and Sam getting all shouty and sexass in his pink shirt. (I'm being deliberately vague because, you know, SPOILERS!)

I'm so excited about rewatching this ep, because the excitement I felt on Thursday is fresh in my mind. Say it with me, brothers and sisters: EeEEEEeeEEeee!

Don't worry if you're running a few minutes ahead or behind it's all good, the wonders of the internet is that we can all still enjoy it.

So "The Kids Are Alright"...let's get it ON...


What's your favorite part?
Favorite lines?
Is there a particular scene that you watch over and over?
A missing scene you like to speculate about? (what did they talk about on that drive back from the unfinished house?)
Something you wish they'd done differently?

Feel free to answer these questions and/or ask your own.

VIEWING PARTY # 1
Featuring - Born Under A Bad Sign
Show Starts at 8pm (EST)


Up first in our viewing schedule is BUaBS, the episode that brought us evil!Sam in all his (or her, if you buy into Meg's original gender) glory. Plus, there's Jo!molestation, Dean!whumpage, and badass!Bobby and his holy water beer. THIS EP HAS IT ALL!!

So as we begin, feel free to discuss whatever comes to your mind. I feel it's safe to assume that we've all seen these episodes, so you can jump ahead, squee about an upcoming part, whatever you want (so long as NO SPOILERS for episodes of Season 3)

If you're running a few minutes behind it's all good, the wonders of the internet is that we can all still enjoy it.

So BUaBS...let's start there...


What's your favorite part?
Favorite lines?
Is there a particular scene that you watch over and over?
A missing scene you like to speculate about? (what was Sam doing that week?)
Something you wish they'd done differently?

Feel free to answer these questions and/or ask your own.

Hi Everyone!

Hope you're having fun at win_non_con today! We've had lots of activities this afternoon-- the Writers' Workshop was incredible (go check out all the threads) and the Treasure Hunt got launched. Over here is voting for Round #1 of the Worst First Lines competition, with Round #2 open until later tonight, so come bring us your bad!fic. Also, the Supernatural TV Show Fic Challenge is still running, so we're eagerly awaiting good!fic too!

Tonight and tomorrow afternoon we're having FOUR Viewing Parties where we'll be rewatching episodes and chatting about them-- live-- in the thread of a Chat Post. The episodes, based on your votes, are...

Tonight:
At the 8pm (EST) chat, we'll be rewatching Born Under A Bad Sign.

(Sadly, I've got a RL commitment tonight, so I'll miss this rewatch. :( I need someone to stand in for me and give everyone the mark to start their dvds/avi files/whatever. Little help?)

At the Midnight (EST) chat, we'll be rewatching The Kids Are Alright.


Tomorrow:
At the 1pm (EST) chat, we'll be rewatching Nightshifter.

At the 4pm (EST) chat, we'll be rewatching Devil's Trap. (Daddy!Demon ftw!)

***

I have to leave the house soon, so I'm going to go ahead and set up the 8pm chat post now. If you have any trouble getting ahold of a copy of BUaBS or TKAA (hee! first time typing that acronym!), try to email me or comment here in the next 45 minutes.

HAVE FUN!! ♥

The Bullwinchester-Lytton Worst First Lines Competition continues!!

FIRST, below find a poll where you can judge among the submissions from ROUND #1! (I snorted coffee several times reading them.)


SECOND, you should comment here with your new deliciously horrible WORST FIRST LINES of Supernatural fic.

Remember, we'll have a face off among the winners of all three rounds on Sunday and the author of the one sentence deemed THE WORST by the peanut gallery wins 2 months paid LJ time.


Vote for The Worst:

NOTE #1: I'm giving you ticky boxes, because some are so bad you may not be able to decide among them. And because I'm nice like that.

NOTE #2: Some entries are too long for dumb ole Create-a-Poll. So they get split into two. You only vote for them once, though, obviously.



( Vote here for The Worst )


ETA: Round #2 is closed for submissions. Go check out ROUND #3!!!

That’s right, me hearties. It’s Treasure Hunt time.

We have FOUR teams are made up of FIVE people. (However, I had two people sign up late and they are in need of more teammates... so if you were thinking of signing up but thought you were too late, YOU'RE NOT. Comment to me here and I'll hook you up!)

Teams were put together at random. There is NO changing around teams and please no complaining. That leads to hurt feelings and this is all about good times, my friends. If I paired you with your sworn enemy? I’m sorry, but suck it up for twenty-four hours and focus on working with the other three members on your team. If I put you on a team full of your sworn enemies? Well, I suggest therapy.

It’s all about working with possibly new people, making friends, and having tons of fun while you scour the internets and your imagination to collect your booty.

Some quick pointers on how to start:
-- share AIM/Yahoo chat names or emails so that your team can communicate (you can hook up here in the comments, if you want)
-- PICK A TEAM NAME (and comment back here with what it is)
-- appoint a team leader
-- set up your own closed (flocked) livejournal community to gather your treasures up until it’s due
-- go through the list and split up the jobs at the beginning

However, there are no rules on how your team works. These are just suggestions. Feel free to do whatever you want!

So first thing’s first...the team list. Right now I just have them listed by number, but when you tell me your names, I'll change to those.

( THE TEAMS )


***


Here's how things will work...You MUST read this as it explains how to post your booty haul.

::passes around the rum::

( THE RULES )

***

And now it's time for the fun part. The list of booty required by all who dare to call themselves pirates of the supernatural fandom! It’s a mix of Supernatural-centric and basic fun things. All are easily obtained with your brains and the Internet. You are allowed to use whatever methods you want to get this information, AIMing people for information, writing, graphic making, stealing Jensen Ackles from Jared’s room and bringing him to me...

( THE BOOTY )

Some hints for collecting the booty:

-Things can come from the internet or you can create your own items.

-However, for any of these items, if they already exist in the world, feel free to just link us to it. If you know of a drabble that ends with "happily ever after", well, just link us, darlings. We want creativity, yes, but we also understand time restraints.

-If you want to set up a community, but don't know how, email me or comment here, and I will help you get it set up. That's if you want to do a community - no pressure.

-where it says "proof" or "evidence" that can be in picture/written/whatever format you want. We just want proof it exists in the world.

-this may/may not be updated as the treasure hunt continues, depending on questions that arise and anything that seems to be stumping people! Really, we do want this to be fun!

Hi, everybody! Welcome to the Writers' Workshop! dotfic and innie_darling will be here from 10 am to 5 pm (EST) to run this thing.

Here's how it works. We've come up with a few topics that might be of interest to writers new and old in this fandom, listed below. Each topic has a comment thread (started by one of us) - if you want to play, just leave a response to our original comment in the appropriate thread. And don't forget to respond to other people's comments as well - we're all working together here, and it should be fun! Even if it's just to say, "Hey, I had that issue too and here's how I resolved it." Let's talk about stories past, present, and future!

We've pretty much got just two rules here: (a) no spoilers, please (any info on any ep past 3x02) and (b) people are welcome to write whatever they like - gen, het, or slash, and in any rating, as long as it's SPN (we feel unqualified to talk about RPF).

So! Here's the list of what's on tap!
(1) Stuck on a line/paragraph/moment in a story you're working on? Know what you want to say but can't figure out just how to say it? Give us some background info on what the story is, what the excerpt is, etc., and we'll critique our little hearts out! Please be aware that the beta will be public.

(2) Having trouble beginning or ending a story? We might be able to help - and even if we can't, someone clever will step up! This fandom is mighty!

(3) Need to know where to find some information on '67 Impalas or shotgun shells or names of demons? Ask!

(4) Ah, the dreaded original character! Your story needs them but you don't really know how to figure them out? Let us help!

(5) So you want to write an AU, and you know there's a whole list of things you should be considering. We can help make sure that list is complete!

(6) A drabble workshop! Drabbles are 100 words of focused writing. We prompt, you write, and then we all tighten the drabbles up and ooh and ahh.

(7) Want to write but are stuck on an idea? We've got one for you! Start it here with us, get some feedback, and finish it up whenever you like.

So that's what the day has in store for us. Come on in, the water's fine!


ETA: As it's now 5 pm, this post is closing. If you still have comments to make, feel free, and we'll do our best to catch them by tomorrow. Thanks, everybody, for a really fun session!

You guys!

Don't forget to go sign up for the win_non_con Treasure Hunt. It starts tomorrow morning at 10am, and it's going to be ZANY. (Note: You don't have to be around all day tomorrow to play. Teams typically divide up the loot they're searching for.)

I'm cutting off sign-ups at midnight. Don't be a pumpkin. (What does that even mean? I dunno, it's something you say when it's midnight, okay? Okay.)

OMG I'm so excited for this activity, I'm going to hurl. (Oh, wait. That might be the Purple Nurples).

Who among you is not familiar with the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest? "It was a Dark and Stormy Night"? Ring any bells?

Well, we're taking that concept and running it into the ground, Impala-style.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write the WORST first line of Supernatural fanfic. EVER.

Rules:

We're going to have three (3) rounds, one tonight that runs through tomorrow noon, one starting tomorrow at noon that runs through tomorrow night, and one tomorrow night that runs through Sunday morning.

You can submit up to three (3) horrible first lines in each round. Comment to this post.

At the beginning of each new round, I will post a poll where you (the con attendees and lurkers alike) can vote for THE WORST first line of all.

On Sunday, we will have a final poll that pits the winner from each of the three individual rounds against one another. BAD!FIC CAGE MATCH.

The winner will be showered with honor, glory, and two free months LJ paid account time.

NOTE: Submissions may be Gen, Het, or Slash (including Wincest) bad!fic, so if Wincest squicks you unbearably, you may want to skip this activity.

ETA: Submissions for Round #1 ARE CLOSED. Go check out the other rounds!

Below are over 40 prompts for Supernatural stories of all types that have to do with TV Shows. Crossovers and AUs abound, along with some quotes and other random funny-fun stuff.

Each person may claim as many prompts as they like, and each prompt can be claimed by many. (I'll do my best to keep up with noting who's chosen what as they're claimed.) Because we're simply a weekend activity, there's no word limit: drabbles, ficlets and full-blown stories are welcome!! You can post your fic(lets) here or in your LJ and link them here, and I will collect them all and make a round-up post at the end of the con.

All participants will receive a Fabulous, Jewel-Encrusted "Official win_non_con Writer" banner to display with their fic and/or in their LJ info.
(Certificates of Participation? Can you tell I've been doing Little League too long? *g*)


To make your claim, leave a comment on this post specifying which one you want. Or just start writing!!

( Supernatural TV Show Challenge Prompts... )

Hi everyone! Welcome, once again, to Not Quite Winchestercon. As you've probably noticed, all the rooms opened at noon, and they will stay open until close of the con on Sunday night. So have fun!

FYI:

-Tonight we have two activities for you to participate in. One is a SPN/TV show fic challenge based on the prompts people have been submitting all week. The other is the beginning of a Worst First Lines competition (like the infamous Bulwer-Lytton fic contest) that will run all weekend. And there will be PRIZES, yo! There'll be separate posts about them later on, so start limbering up your good!fic and your bad!fic muscles.

-Sign-ups for the Treasure Hunt will continue until this evening at 11pm EST. At that point, I will put together the list of participants and get ready for the start tomorrow.

-I'm SO excited! Starting tomorrow morning dotfic and innie_darling will be running a Writers Workshop at the con. I have no idea what they have planned, but they keep throwing me funny looks and giggling behind their hands, so I'm betting it will be "EPIC."
*bounces*


Next Matter of Business: Poll for the Viewing Parties

Below is the poll that will determine which four episodes get watched at the viewing parties on Saturday and Sunday -- Sat at 8pm(EST) and midnight, Sunday at 1pm(EST) and 4... While there is no set limit on how many you can vote for, keep in mind that ONLY four will be watched.

Also, what would you think about doing a watch/rewatch of "The Kids Are Alright"? I'm putting that on there and if I get enough interest I'm gonna put it in the Saturday midnight time slot. Okay? (If I don't we'll watch other oldies-but-goodies.)

Note: if you don't have access to the episodes yourself, hit me with an email and I'll see if there's something I can do to help you out.




( Poll Under the Cut )


FYI: Voting in the poll does not commit you to showing up for the Viewing Parties. What? Like I'm going to come to your house and drag you over to the TV? (You wish.)